Single handing .... advice

[kidnapped]

I would like to try a bit of 'single handing' this summer .... but how does one start? I presume shortish trips in daylight then longer, then arriving in the dark etc. in reasonable weather. I believe I have sorted out the 'leaving' bit, but arrival is still causing some angst. Does one get a good reception when asking marina staff to take your lines? How do you handle places like Weymouth ... v. busy, going alongside a trot? What is best method for catching the mooring cleat in less busy places? I am not phased by sailing the boat and have a bow thruster. Does all the above just need 'possibly embarassing' practice?

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[BrendanS]

You could try taking someone out with you. and slowly have them stop assisting on certain tasks, one by one. Till eventually they are only there to assist in case of embarassing moments.

Then you're on your own having built up a routine and repertoire of 'tricks'



<hr width=100% size=1> I asked an economist for her phone number....and she gave me an estimate

 

[ianwright]

Preparation is the key. Make sure you have your lines and fenders ready long before you need them. That means bow lines, stern lines and lines from your midship cleats, Port and Starboard.. Marina staff rarely leave the office except to check that you have paid. If you find any that are willing to take your lines I will be amazed. You can try asking other yotties, most will help but many don't know what is needed. Give them a line and they will pull hard on it or make it fast and locked to the wrong cleat. If you are solo, BE solo. Look to yourself alone.
It can be done, I do it all the time and so do lots of others, and very satisfying it is too.
Get too used to it and you will find it all but impossible to find a crew that you can tolerate.
There's a lot more to it than thatthough,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

IanW


<hr width=100% size=1>Vertue 203, Patience

 

[charles_reed]

1. Check your insurance, most policies rule out overnight single-handing, many frown on lack of crew.
2. Plan everything well ahead, take lots of time for everything, work out fallback routines for things that will go wrong.
3. Don't expect any help from any bystanders, least of all marina staff. If you do get any it's likely to be commercial fisherman not yachties and it's all a bonus.
4. Work up your anchoring routine, it's the safest way of coming to a halt, besides being cheaper than marinas.
5. Get a really good autopilot and have a back-up for it.
6. Practice makes perfect - learn how to use propwalk and springing off to get away from lee-berths (getting away is more fraught than arriving). Work up graduallythe arrivals and departures; anchoring the easiest, alongside a marina berth (next easiest), a mooring (a little harder), trots (easy if there's someone there already), tieing up bows or stern to (the most difficult).
7. Have out fenders both sides before entering harbour and always be prepared for the engine to die when most you need it.

It's a great relief to not have to put up with the slings and arrows of outrageous crews.

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[Mirelle]

Nothing to it.

It is easier and safer than sailing with other people.

You are not distracted by the need to make conversation, the need to ensure that nobody is doing anything that is counter-productive, the need to ensure that everybody is enjoying themselves, and so on.

The amount of time and energy expended on this routine social interaction is huge. You can apply it, instead, to sailing in a seamanlike manner - and still have plenty left over for enjoying yourself.

As had been said, the key is to plan ahead. I am not quite sure why you are so keen on marinas, however, if you really like them, just practice going alongside.
As many, many people have said, a midships cleat can be your best friend here.


<hr width=100% size=1>Que scais-je?

 

[pvb]

Lots of good advice already given....

You're already well-placed with a Najad 441 - up to a point, the bigger the boat, the easier it is to handle on your own. The secret lies in careful preparation. In marina/harbour situations, always rig adequate fenders and lines on both sides before you enter. One of my favoured techniques is to have a long loop of line on a midships cleat; come alongside, drop loop casually over a convenient bollard, motor against it to stabilise boat. If you can, approach heading into the prevailing wind. In most cases, I always politely refuse help from bystanders or marina staff- they usually mess it up! Somewhere like Weymouth needn't be a problem at all, radio the Harbourmaster, agree the spot, bring the boat in gently, secure midships first, nothing much can go wrong after that. You probably won't even need the bowthruster. Go out and try it - it's a really rewarding experience!

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[paulrossall]

As others have said preperation is vital (ie. having all warps and fenders ready) . What no one has mentioned is do everything very very slowly. Judge the tidal stream and normally more important work out what the wind is doing to you. The wind blowing you onto some boat or obstical is what catches most people out. Bloke who taught me boat handling always said "NO SPEED = NO DAMAGE".

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[Mirelle]

A possibly silly footnote

The best way to catch the mooring cleat, in busy or unbusy places, is to step ashore, holding the warp, walk boldly up to the cleat in question, and belay the warp to it. There is a tiny pyschological barrier to cross, here - stepping off your boat, leaving her un-manned and un-secured, feels odd.

Don't worry; she won't be going anywhere in the time needed to belay a warp!

As has been said, it is easier to singlehand a big boat than a small one.

<hr width=100% size=1>Que scais-je?

 

[qsiv]

The midship cleat is one possible answe - but I prefer a snatch block at that point, a line led back to a primary winch, and the end of the line with a sensibly sized eye. This is then easy to drop on to some suitable item wherever you wind up.

I regularly move my boat singlehanded (50' 30 tonnes) - but only in fairly gentle conditions if there is going to be no shore side help as she has lots of windage, and not a huge grip on the water. OTOH, if the breeze is pushing you onto the berth then who needs lines!

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[tcm]

great advice below. I am not *quite* so convinced that every shoreside helper will be useless. You get better spots if you make it clear on VHF you are singlehanded. With a larger crew you can sort-of muff the coming alongside, letting it drift a bit here and there, correcting and so on - singlehanded you have to make sure the boat is stopped, and the helming is "finished with" before leaving the helm to do the lines.

Another thing is knowing how long your boat is if you use a pontoon berth, cos there's nobody to call back from the bow that it's a "bit close" or "stop!!". Praps a speculative run past and a good look at a berth, sizing up other neighbouring boats, to see how long they are and how far they stick out. I failed to do this at Mercury and parked a bit too firmly against the dock in a 37 footer partly cos the next boat to me was (i found out) a 29 footer. As with cars, recognising individual models is often useful, as i suppose the boats testers herebouts might confirm?

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[john_morris_uk]

Not on single handing exclusively but,

<Bloke who taught me boat handling always said "NO SPEED = NO DAMAGE". >

I always was taught/teach 'As fast as you have to - as slow as you can.' or 'Go as fast as you want to hit something...' usually persuades people to ease the throttle!



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[Chris_Robb]

Too slow can mean dead in the water. A situation to be avoided at all costs in a long keeler! There are certain manouvers which cannot be done at less than 2 knots, so judgement of not using a 14 ton battering ram is essential!

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[beneteau_305_553]

I was shown a simple device to help pick up a cleat on a pontoon.

Thread a mooring line through a piece of pvc tube about 1/2 m long and tie a bowline round the line so that the knot can slide along the line with the tube in the loop. Then push the end of the boathook into the end of the tube. The tube holds the loop out. As you come alongside you then reach out and pass the loop over the cleat, pull the boat hook off the tube and make fast the line.
If all your mooring lines have these tubes you can complete your mooring without stepping off the boat. The tubes also stop fraying of the lines on the cleats.

I find that motoring against a single mooring line makes it much easier. I usually put the stern line on first, as its closest to the helm, then motor gently forward with the helm over. This stops the bows from moving away.

Have a good radar reflector. A radar with guard watch is a great help.

Keep your harness safety line short. (I have rigged the jackstay down the centre of the boat so that I cannot slip through the lifelines)

<hr width=100% size=1>Richard

 

[robp]

Most of berthing stuff has been said here. Fenders and warps at all quarters, ready for any change of plan. Very often it's the bow or stern that will swing, so fenders well aft and well forward will help. Midships line is most useful but not always, such as my own berth. Here, a bridle from bow to stern, with enough length to take ashore or onto another boat, gives you control.

When you go offshore, it's easier in that you just have to sail but other disciplines need brushing up on. In any weather that could be at all boisterous, be 110% sure you won't be sea sick. (Even if you aren't normally). Obvious things like lifelines and jackets at all times. Waterproof Handheld VHF clipped to life-jacket. Easy sustainence and loo facilities. Not meant to sound daunting but will all give a prepared feeling of comfort.

Then, Oh what peace and quiet!

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[doris]

Coming alongside

I always find that calling up a marina and explaining that your boat doesn't handle very well and that you are not very good at parking tends to get marina staff very protective about their other charges! Having said that fenders on both sides and warps (not too long) from centre cleats make life very easy. Having these waps a bold colour helps, especially if someone on the pontoon is taking the line.

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[doris]

Peace and quiet

Couldn't agree more about the peace and quiet. Offshore, alone, with a wind pilot doing the work, has to be one of the nicest aspects of sailing.

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[oldharry]

As a keen single hander, I would go with everything thats been said here. Be ready, be ready, then get everything ready beforehand.

The one key thing I would add is - find out where your personal endurance limits are: the channel shipping lanes is not the place to find out whether you can stay awake that long and still function reasonably safely! particularly after a hard weeks work earning beer tokens.

Navigation is the other thing that comes to mind. You do not want to spend too long at the chart table on passage - do your homework before you set out - particularly you need to be sure you know what you are looking for to get in safely at the other end. It is astonishing what you can 'see' when you want to see it.

As Peyton once put it - "Ian - you know that fixed white light you are heading for? - well its now reading GENTS...."


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[Mirelle]

Good advice

I once sailed under Tower Bridge. Remember it perfectly. I was somewhere near the Outer Gabbard at the time, on a slow, fluky passage back from Rotterdam!

On a coasting passage, the compulsion to go and have another look at the chart table, followed three minutes later by another look, can be contained to some extent by having really studied the route first.

But the other bit of advice is - you are not in a hurry. You have no-one to please but yourself, and at sea, in your boat, is exactly where you wanted to be!

<hr width=100% size=1>Que scais-je?

 

[Talbot]

I have also started doing more singlehanded work this last season. The one change that made the most difference to my sense of well being was the installation of a chart plotter where I can see it at the helm. I also installed a behind mast reefing system to minimise the need to go forward at sea. I wear a lifejacket at all times, and am also installing an electric windlass with self stowing anchor to make life easier. I think next winter's toy will be a radar (JRC 1000), but I get really twitter and bisted about paying over £800 for it in UK when it is available in USA for £550

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[starboard]

I average about 1500 miles per season of which 85% is single handed. Main cruising area the West Coast of Scotland.My greatest asset for this is an Autuhelm 1000plus which even allows me to fly the Kite if conditions dictate. I sail a 26ft yacht and never have a problem. At times dropping the kite can be interesting alone as sods law dictates as soon as you have it up the wind increases.
I feel you are more in tune with the boat as when things happen you are able to respond immediately, rather than trying to tell someone that is not quiet used to your boat what to do. As for size once your at sea a 25 footer is as easy to handle as a 45 footer, the problem only comes when coming back alongside. Here the smaller vessel far easier to control if the wind has picked up. I choose a pontoon berth that has the prevailing wind blowing me back on, if the wind is blowing you off at a rate of knots things are not quite as simple but in time you will work out your own methods and indeed find it easier than having a crew along.
I always advise the Coastguard when single handed as to my point of departure and intended destination...this one day may save a lot of wasted effort should my boat be found sailing along on its own...accidents do and will happen despite every effort you make and the worst would be going overboard with autopilot engaged. That is a risk I am prepared to take and have enjoyed many thousands of miles passage making that otherwise may not have been open to me.
Give it a go and you will never look back...good luck.
Paul.

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